Corée

Competitiveness of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Automobile Industries

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Shioji, Hiromi (2012).  Competitiveness of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese Automobile Industries. Gerpisa colloquium. The automobile industry has been developing remarkably in the East Asian countries—Japan, Korea, and China—in recent years. In terms of domestic production, China produced 18.3 million vehicles in 2010, more than any other country in the world. Japan is the second largest, at 9.6 million. Korea ranks fifth, at 4.3 million. Out of the top five automobile industries, three are in East Asia. In 2001, Japan held the second place, and Korea the fifth; China was in the seventh place. This momentum will not stagnate; production in China will increase to around 25 million by the middle of the 2010s, and is likely to exceed the output of other countries. This paper aims to analyse the international competitiveness of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese automobile industries. Analysing in detail the production, sales, and import/export statistics published by each country’s Automobile Manufacturer Association, we clarify the competitiveness of each country and the differences among them. There are many existing research studies on the competitiveness of the East Asian automobile industries.3 These studies analysed many aspects of automobile makers, such as their development, production, distribution, finance, supply chains, organizational capability, industrial policies of government, and historical process. There is, however, little research about how the international competitiveness of a country’s automobile industry as a whole can be examined quantitatively. Most existing research only introduces production and export numbers as numerical indices of international competitiveness; these numbers are based only on ‘Producer Country Base’ (later described). This paper analyses the total international competitiveness of the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese automobile industries.
Thème: Processus d’émergence des nouvelles industries automobiles
Thème: The emergence of new automotive industries

Transplant Automotive Clusters and the Country of Origin in the Southern States of the United States

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Luethge, Denise J., Michael McDermott, & Philippe Byosiere (2012).  Transplant Automotive Clusters and the Country of Origin in the Southern States of the United States. Gerpisa colloquium. This paper will examine the strategic role of each transplant in the parent company’s global strategy, investigate signs of subsidiary entrepreneurship, and examine technology flows between each transplant in the south and the Multinational Corporation as a whole, as well as determine the extent to which theses transplants in the south are creating “centers of excellence” within the MNC, and embedded clusters within the region that is so important for locational enduring competitive advantage.
Thème: Trajectoires et stratégies des constructeurs
Thème: Manufacturer trajectories and strategies

The Formation and Change of Hyundai Production System: An Institutional Perspective

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Jo, Hyung Je (2012).  The Formation and Change of Hyundai Production System: An Institutional Perspective. (You J., Ed.).Gerpisa colloquium. This study aims to explain the evolutionary process of Hyundai’s production system. We adopt an institutional perspective to explain the dynamic growth of Hyundai Motor Company, focusing on its production system that is composed of technological and organizational factors. Hyundai Production System as an institution has been formed and changed with changes in actors’ coalitions. Since Hyundai pursued a strategy of technological independence in the early 1970s, it has developed its own production system in which engineers took a leading role. By the late 1980s Hyundai Production System had consolidated its developmental trajectory, based on the low dependence on skill formation, because Hyundai management could not be sure about the results of investment in education and training for its laborers under the adversarial labor relations. After the employment restructuring in the late 1990s, Hyundai’s coalitional base was fixed as the coalition between the management and the regular laborers, excluding the irregular laborers and suppliers. Since the 2000s, the early success of Hyundai’s transplants in foreign countries has shown the efficiency of Hyundai Production System, because transferring production system is relatively easy with low dependence on skill formation. Hyundai’s case is clearly contrasted with Toyota’s, because Toyota has experienced much difficulty with transfer of its production system that is based on high dependence on skill formation.
Thème: Trajectoires et stratégies des constructeurs
Thème: Manufacturer trajectories and strategies

The Significance of Domestic Outsourcing of Production in the Korean Automotive Industry - through comparison with Japanese “Itaku” production-

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Lee, Jaeho (2012).  The Significance of Domestic Outsourcing of Production in the Korean Automotive Industry - through comparison with Japanese “Itaku” production-. Gerpisa colloquium. This paper intends to investigate the Domestic Outsourcing of Production in the Korean automotive industry, and to explore what is the implication of this new phenomenon, through comparison with those of Japan. Reviewing hundreds of literatures about automotive industry in this field, interdependent heterogeneous division relationships between automobile manufactures and suppliers have been main stream objects so far. However, from the practical viewpoint, we could not ignore the presence of homogeneous division relationship, especially on explaining rapid expansion of Japanese automotive industry over the past 40 years. Recently Korean Kia Motors who belongs to Hyundai Motors group has started outsourcing of compact cars’ production into Donghee Auto who is the joint concern of Donghee group and Kia Motor. I examine the significance of this new attempt in Korean automobile industry compared with Japanese “Itaku”production　that ranges even development of new models, from this following 3 perspectives.
Thème: Processus de restructuration des industries automobiles européennes, américaines et japonaises
Thème: Restructuring processes affecting the European, American and Japanese automotive industries

Semaine américaine

Submitted by Bernard Jullien, GIS-Gerpisa, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan on 23 May, 2011 - 09:55
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lagarde-envisagee-pour-remplacer-dsk-photo-afp-jean-christophe-verhaegen.jpg

La chronique hébdomadaire de Bernard Jullien directeur du Gerpisa.

La presse nous rendait compte en fin de semaine des chances respectives d’une candidature européenne à la succession de DSK que pourrait incarner Christine Lagarde face à celles des mal nommés émergents. La question était au fond de savoir si le statu quo attaché au deal entre les Etats-Unis et l’Europe qui veut que la tête de la banque mondiale soit américaine et celle du FMI européenne pouvait être contesté par une coalition conduite par la Chine qui fait valoir que, les animaux malades de la peste financière étant plutôt en Europe, les Etats-Unis seraient avisés de ne pas laisser les trop proches des patients définir les traitements. Se voit ainsi incarnée une configuration dont nous commençons à être familiers au G20 ou encore à Copenhague : dans le jeu triangulaire qui structure très régulièrement désormais la plupart des grands dossiers, la coalition américano-chinoise peut faire de l’Europe le dindon de la farce géopolitique. read more

Alternative powertrain strategies and fleet turnover in the 21st century

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Belzowski, Bruce, & Walter McManus (2011).  Alternative powertrain strategies and fleet turnover in the 21st century. Gerpisa colloquium. The changes taking place in the global automotive industry related to alternative powertrains and fuels are affecting each country or region differently. Each country or region has its own policies in place to monitor and manage vehicle fuel consumption and emissions. Countries or regions also have different numbers of new vehicles sold annually and the total numbers of vehicles in their fleets. This analysis looks at the current and future direction of alternative powertrains/fuels across four developed economies (United States, Western Europe, Japan, and South Korea) and four developing economies (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) in order to measure the impact of increasing the number of alternative powertrains/fuels in their fleets. In particular, the analysis looks at how much of each country’s fleet will turn over to vehicles based only on alternative powertrains/fuels by 2050 by introducing three different alternative powertrain/fuel models (less aggressive, moderately aggressive, and very aggressive). A less aggressive approach will yield fleet turnover rates of 60 percent or more for most countries, a moderately aggressive approach will yield fleet turnover rates of over 80 percent for most countries, and a very aggressive approach will yield fleet turnover rates of nearly 90 percent or more for most countries.
Thème: Transformations technologiques, transformations systémiques
Thème: Technological transformations, systemic transformations

A Dialectic Development of Korean Automobile Industry: Focusing on the Hyundai Productive Model

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Jo, Hyung Je, & Jong-sung You (2011).  A Dialectic Development of Korean Automobile Industry: Focusing on the Hyundai Productive Model. Gerpisa colloquium. This paper aims to explain the development of Korean automobile industry during the last four decades, focusing on Hyundai Motor Company (HMC). While Korea’s automobile industry is a unique case that has been exceptionally successful since World War II, there have been few studies on it. Korean automakers have expanded their market share in advanced countries as well as developing countries. HMC has grown as one of five major automakers in its production volume in the world. How can we explain the success of Korean automobile industry? In particular, what made it possible for HMC to develop its technology so rapidly and to produce quality cars so efficiently? We are going to revise and develop an analytical framework that is based on the “production model” of GERPISA. GERPISA has accumulated diverse case studies of the world automobile industry from its institutional perspective. The concept of production model has been useful for explaining the complexities of automobile industry, considering not only micro factors but also macro factors. HMC substantially represents Korean automobile industry in terms of its share of production and sales in the national economy. HMC is currently the only Korean domestic automaker, because the other Korean automakers were taken by foreign companies after the foreign exchange crisis in the late 1990s. However, the success of HMC is not only due to its own strategy but also attributable to other institutional factors such as government policies. We are going to explain the dynamic development of Korean automobile industry, focusing on the corporate governance compromise in product policy, production organization, and employment relations. Our main puzzle is why HMC has developed such a unique production model, even though it originally tried to adopt the Japanese production model. Since the early 1970s when HMC decided to pursue its “own model strategy”, HMC has developed an “engineer-led” production model, downplaying the participation of production workers, because the company could not invest in skill formation of production workers under the hostile labor relations. Based on this governance compromise, HMC has developed a unique production model that depends on the flexible automation and a high level of information system. The engineer-led production model of HMC has efficiently contributed to the exceptionally rapid technological development of Korean automobile industry. HMC also has succeeded in transferring its production model to other countries, including the U.S. as well as developing countries such as India and China. This demonstrates that the HMC’s production model is relatively easy to transfer to other countries, compared to the Japanese production model that heavily depends on the skill formation of production workers.
Thème: Les industries automobiles
Thème: Automobile industries

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Is Korean Automobile firms in the new century leap forward?

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Chung, Myeong-Kee (2011).  Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Is Korean Automobile firms in the new century leap forward?. Gerpisa colloquium.
The global automotive markets have sharply declines from the fall of 2008 in consequence of the financial crisis. Under extremely severe conditions, automobile makers run a race for survival in the global market. To respond to the crisis, automobile manufacturers must solve liquidity problems urgently and reduction in production cost. They also have implemented creative marketing strategies to entice reluctant consumers, even though it has not helped the catastrophic drop in sales.
 
There is no doubt that the automobile industry is going through a fundamental shift. A recession of worldwide automobile demands has been affected by financial crisis is prompting automobile manufactures to form alliances and shift on concentrating on the emerging market, which has withstood the slump amid economic growth and government subsidies. Nevertheless Korean automobile manufacturer cannot escape the global financial crisis; Korea major OEM makers Hyundai & Kia is not immune to global credit crunch.
 

In this context, my paper will look at current market situation and new trends in the Korean automobile industry and its future prospects. This paper also aims to provide preliminary understanding regarding the development pathway of Korean automobile makers in order to survival in the current global financial crisis. The paper is organized as follows. Part 1 analysis of the features of Korean market and describe Korean automakers performance in the periods of global crisis. Part 2 focuses on the new market trend, which is caused by Korean domestic economy condition after global financial crisis. The crisis leaded a structural change in automobile consumption downsizing. In last part, a detailed description of Korean automakers is presented to explain how the Korean firms compete in the financial crisis.    

Thème: Les constructeurs
Thème: Automobile manufacturers

Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Is Hyundai’s Trajectory A Miracle or A Mirage?

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Chung, Myeong-Kee (2010).  Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Is Hyundai’s Trajectory A Miracle or A Mirage?. Gerpisa colloquium.

The global automotive markets which expanded rapidly over the past five years from 2002 to 2007 have sharply declines from the fall of 2008 in consequence of the financial crisis. Under extremely severe conditions, automobile makers run a race for survival in the global market. To respond to the crisis, automobile manufacturers must solve liquidity problems urgently and reduction in production cost. They also have implemented creative marketing strategies to entice reluctant consumers, even though it has not helped the catastrophic drop in sales.
 
There is no doubt that the automobile industry is going through a fundamental shift. A recession of worldwide automobile demands has been affected by financial crisis is prompting automobile manufactures to form alliances and shift on concentrating on the emerging market, which has withstood the slump amid economic growth and government subsidies. In this context, world carmakers have strategy alliances among the automobile manufacturers are the top of the agenda during global turmoil and they are indispensable for competition. The global crisis has sped up this reshuffle.
 
VW agreed to buy a 19.9 per cent stake in Suzuki and jointly developed vehicles for emerging markets such as India. Suzuki control Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the maker of half of all cars sold in India and VW is the second-biggest overseas automaker in China, which is set to surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest car market this year. PSA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s second-biggest carmaker, and Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp. are in talks to deepen a strategic partnership that may involve an equity investment, the companies. Fiat SpA, Italy’s top automaker, acquired a 20 percent stake in Chrysler Group LLC in June 2009.
 
Although the world’s automotive market remains sluggish, and some of the world’s largest carmakers have been sorely tested on how to survive, Hyundai motor, a Korean company which is one of the countries biggest vehicle assemblers and one of its main suppliers and yet it is not without trouble that they have weathered the global crisis relatively well. In the midst of the global crisis, Hyundai has no plan to M&A as an exit strategy which has been adapted by European carmakers like VW, Fiat, and Chinese companies. In contrast, Hyundai planned a stand alone strategy, because their product line up is not expected to synergistic effects through M&A.
 
This paper aims to provide preliminary understanding regarding the management strategy of Hyundai in order to survival in the current global financial crisis. This paper also is an examination of the new trajectory of Hyundai whether this is a new pattern setter for emerging carmakers. The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 analyses of the business performance and the management strategies of Hyundai in the periods of global crisis. Section 2 focuses on the stand alone strategy of Hyundai in the global turmoil, which are required for sustainable growth in next decade. Finding that the reminder of the paper asks how firmly in global recession can Hyundai pursue the competitive strategies. To this end, Section 3 shows that Hyundai actually faces this challenge and this task to pursue this strategy, while Section 4 concludes with a summary interpretation.  

Thème: Les stratégies des constructeurs dans la crise
Thème: Car makers strategies in the crisis

The Second Automobile Revolution. Trajectories of the World Carmakers in the 21st century

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Freyssenet, Michel (2009).  The Second Automobile Revolution. Trajectories of the World Carmakers in the 21st century. (Freyssenet M., Ed.). 468.

Depuis les années 90, on a assisté à une prolifération presque sans précédent des prévisions et des recommandations que les firmes automobiles devaient prendre en considération si elles voulaient survivre. Dans le même temps, de nombreux changements ont été sous-estimés ou n'ont pas été prévus, à commencer par la crise financière de 2008.

Nous sommes au début d'une deuxième révolution d'automobile résultant de la combinaison de deux transformations: le développement rapide de nouveaux marchés automobiles (Brésil, Russie, Inde, Chine) dépassant de loin tout ce qui a pu être observer dans le passé, aussi bien aux Etats-Unis d'Amérique qu'en Europe et au Japon ; et la transition vers des énergies alternatives et de nouvelles motorisations. Ces deux changements, qui en dépit des apparences sont interdépendants, vont bouleverser l'automobile, industriellement et pratiquement.

La question est maintenant de savoir qui des anciens ou des nouveaux constructeurs automobiles bénéficieront de ces bouleversements et quelles en seront les conséquences pour les salariés et les pays concernés. Le livre propose une analyse prenant en compte l'évolution des stratégies et des modèles de croissance nationaux et la recomposition des "compromis de gouvernement d'entreprise".

Plan

1 Introduction: Qu'avons-nous appris depuis 10 ans ?
Michel Freyssenet
2 Prévisions démenties et changements inattendus. Le Monde qui a changé la machine
Michel Freyssenet
3 Stratégies d'internationalisation des firmes automobiles en début du nouveau siècle. Un nouveau bond en avant?
Bruno Jetin

Première Partie: Les trajectoires différents des constructeurs automobiles japonais et coréens

4 L'espoir de Toyota de devenir le premier constructeur mondial
Koichi Shimizu
5 Nissan: depuis le bord de la faillite
Merieke Stevens et Takahiro Fujimoto
6 Honda: Heureux hasard ou stratégie, 1997-2007?
Denise J. Luethge et Philippe Byosiere
7 La renaissance de Mazda à l'ombre de Ford
Daniel Arturo Heller
8 Hyundai: Est-il possible de réaliser le rêve de devenir un des cinq premiers constructeurs mondiaux
Myeong-Kee Chung

Deuxième partie: Le résistible déclin des “Big Three” ?

9 General Motors à l'heure de la restructuration
Richard Senter, JR. et Walter McManus
10. Ford de 1993 à 2007: en perdant son chemin?
Glenn Mercer
11 Chrysler peut-il survivre à sa réinvention?
Bruce Belzowski

troisième partie: La résistance des constructeurs européens

12 Le chapitre final du modèle VW, 1995-2005?
Ulrich Jürgens
13 PSA: les difficultés de la stratégie de profit "volume et diversité"
Michel Freyssenet
14 Renault 1992-2007: mondialisation et incertitudes stratégiques
Michel Freyssenet:
15 Fiat Group Automobiles, le Phoenix de l'industrie automobile mondiale
Giuseppe Volpato
16 Du mariage céleste au divorce à terre. La trajectoire de DaimlerChrysler depuis la fusion
Holm-Detlev Köhler
17 Diriger avec le professionnalisme d'ingénieurs et des valeurs familiales. La trajectoire de BMW, d'un constructeur régional à un u acteur mondial de premier plan
Ludger Pries
18 Une rupture avec le passé: Volvo et ses mécontents
Matthias Holweg et Frits K. Pil
19 La trajectoire de Rover: une histoire salutaire
Dan Coffey

Quatrième partie: Nouveaux entrants et équipementiers mondiaux

20 Made in China: entreprises conjointes et nouveaux entrants nationaux
Hua Wang
21 La trajectoire de Maruti-Suzuki: d'un champion national à une filiale d'un constructeur japonais
Florian Becker-Ritterspach
22 Gagnants et perdants: les trajectoires suivies par les équipementiers de premier rang depuis une décennie
Vincent Frigant

23 Conclusion. La seconde révolution automobile. Promesses et incertitudes
Michel Freyssenet

Index

Cinq chapitres en version française originale

✔ Freyssenet M., Introduction : dix ans après, qu’avons-nous appris ?, original en français de « Introduction. Ten years after, what have we learnt ? », in Freyssenet M. (ed.), The Second Automobile Revolution. Trajectories of the World Carmakers in the 21st century, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp 1-6. Édition numérique : freyssenet.com, 2009, 116 Ko, ISSN 7116-0941.

✔ Freyssenet M., Prévisions infirmées et changements inattendus. Le monde qui a changé la machine, original en français de «Wrong forecasts and inexpected changes. The World that changed the machine », in Freyssenet M. (ed.), The Second Automobile Revolution. Trajectories of the World Carmakers in the 21st century, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp 7-37. Édition numérique : freyssenet.com, 2009, 396 Ko, ISSN 7116-0941.

✔ Freyssenet M., Renault 1992-2007, mondialisation et incertitudes stratégiques, original en français de «Renault 1992-2007 : globalisation and strategic uncertaintiy», in Freyssenet M. (ed.), The Second Automobile Revolution. Trajectories of the World Carmakers in the 21st century, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp 267-285. Édition numérique : freyssenet.com, 2009, 733 Ko, ISSN 7116-0941.

✔ Freyssenet M., PSA : les difficultés d’une stratégie de profit « volume et diversité », original en français de «PSA: the difficulties of « volume and diversity » profit strategyg», in Freyssenet M. (ed.), The Second Automobile Revolution. Trajectories of the World Carmakers in the 21st century, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp 246-266. Édition numérique : freyssenet.com, 2009, 396 Ko, ISSN 7116-0941.

✔ Freyssenet M., La seconde révolution automobile : ses promesses et ses incertitudes, original en français de «The second automobile revolution : promises and uncertainties», in Freyssenet M. (ed.), The Second Automobile Revolution. Trajectories of the World Carmakers in the 21st century, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, pp 443-454. Édition numérique : freyssenet.com, 2009, 196 Ko, ISSN 7116-0941.

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Cars Carriers of Regionalism ?

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Carrillo, Jorge, Yannick Lung, & Rob van Tulder (2004).  Cars Carriers of Regionalism ?. 309.

his highly topical book brings together some of the world's leading specialists on the global car industry who discuss the ins and outs of the faster lane of regionalism at a time that the world is reassessing the ins and outs of globalization. It provides a thorough and up-dated mapping of the worldwide geography of the car industry, in the triad regions (Europe, North America and Japan), and in the emerging countries and regions.

Introduction--Y.Lung & R.van Tulder * Part 1: A World of Regions? * The Fast Lane of Regionalism--R.van Tulder & D.Audet * Multinational Car Makers' Regional Strategies--M.Freyssenet & Y.Lung * Part 2: Regional Intergration within Industrialized Countries * The Dynamics of Regional Integration in the European Car Industry--J-B.Layan & Y.Lung * Peripheral Regionalism: The Consequences of Integrating Central and Eastern Europe in the European Automobile Space--R.van Tulder * Challenges for the Turkish Car Industry on its Way to Integration with the EU--L.Duruiz * NAFTA: The Process of Regional Integration Evolution of Motor Vehicle Production--J.Carrillo * Part 3: Regional Integration within Emerging Regions * MERCOSUR: Interaction between Governments and Producers and the Sustainability of the Regional Automobile Space--M.Laplane & F.Sarti * ASEAN: Developing a Division of Labour in a Developing Region--K.Shimokawa The Revival of the Automotive Industry in the Commonwealth of Independent States--J-J.Chanaron * Limits to Regionalism: The Automotive Industry in the Southern African Development Community--A.Black & M.Mezouaghi * Part 4: The Challenge of Going Alone * The Risk of Go-it-Alone: The Japanese Car Industry - From Boom to Bust?--R.van Tulder * 'Avoiding the Neighbours': The National/Global Development Strategy of the Korean Automobile Industry--M.Lautier * Going Local: Foreign Investment, Local Development and the Chinese Auto Sector--E.Thun * The Indian Passenger Car Industry and the South Asian Market: Global Auto Companies' Struggles in India--Y-H.Kim

The automobile sector is often presented as the archetypal global industry. In this view, the car business is one of the main drivers behind the homogenisation of the world, both because of firms' internationalisation strategies (mergers-acquisitions, establishment of facilities in emerging countries, world cars, international division of labour, etc.) and also as a result of the social practices such firms enact via their organisation of work and at the lifestyle (automobile civilisation) level. The present article is an attempt to deconstruct a representation that neglects the heterogeneity of firms and spaces; the great diversity of the strategies being pursued; and the inherent contradictions of the competitive process. Without purporting to analyse carmakers' internationalisation strategies in their entirety (cf., Freyssenet, Shimizu, Volpato forthcoming; Jetin, 2001), it delves into issues relating to those regionalisation strategies that carmakers are most likely to follow in their attempts to rebuild at a regional (supranational) level a modicum of coherency between productive systems and automobile markets - coherencies that no longer necessarily materialise at the national level that had once (during the post-war boom years) been the arena within which they could regulate themselves.

To apprehend the dynamics of regional integration, emphasis is placed on actors' (the firms') strategies and their close interaction with certain political and institutional elements (Boyer, 1999). In the current historical context, "regionalisation" is construed as a structuring of the world-space into various regions that are distinct both from the globalisation (homogenisation) process and from earlier and partial/parallel "regional integration" processes. The present paper does not use an institutional definition of regional integration (c.f., chapter 2 by Denis Audet and Rob van Tulder), rather it sees the regional integration process as one component of an automobile firm’s spatial management strategy. The two aspects (institutional/strategic) clearly interact with one another: firms' strategies respond and/or are involved in the development of an institutional compromise between sovereign States, and inter-governmental agreements can sometimes cause firms to make new choices.

The first section of the present paper reviews the fundamental elements involved in analysing profit strategies and productive models in an attempt to specify the issues at stake, as well as the way in which such strategies and models participate in carmakers' forms of internationalisation. This analytical matrix (Boyer, Freyssenet, 2000b) will be applied in the following sections. The second section provides a historical perspective, reminding the reader of the greater or lesser extent to which carmakers have been involved in the partial regional integration processes that ran from the 1960s until the advent of the new globalisation events that were so intimately associated with the 1990s. Lastly, the final section of the article is an attempt to analyse the regionalisation process in its contemporary form, seen as an ongoing process which involves a rebuilding of spaces of regulation - and as one that is diametrically opposed to the phenomenon of globalisation.

Although a logic of production (economies of scale) has induced automobile manufacturers to extend their area of commercialisation on a global scale, it is in their articulation with a market, their getting into sync with a demand, that they have incorporated the regional tier as a level at which they can achieve a certain coherency. Except for the two extremes of the scale (bottom of the range/prestige automobiles), there are limits to the homogenisation of global demand, and the failure of Ford's attempt to integrate its activities globally shows that automobile firms should be looking for more appropriate strategies – and above all, for models or innovative forms of organisation that are better adapted to a particular regional space. It is not at all certain that the real challenge is to be the first to globalise - mono-regional strategies (such as the one that PSA has pursued), bi-regional, multi-regional, even trans-regional strategies, all can be relevant at a certain time, and in a given space. Is it possible to devise a productive model that allows for a combination of all of these strategies (mono-regional for certain products; multi-regional for partially overlapping market segments; global for homogenous segments)? A certain number of carmakers seem to be looking in this direction - starting with Ford, where this approach has been broken down into light trucks in the US; Focus-type world platforms for high-volume models; and the Premier Automotive group for deluxe marques. Others having started down this road include Toyota (mini city cars in Japan; Corolla/Prisma in their regional variants; and the Lexus group) or Volkswagen. To function, internationalisation strategies must incorporate a regional level; and develop enterprise government compromises that enable firms to operate in this type of combinatory register whilst avoiding the incompatibilities and incoherencies that have so often been a source of tension in the past.

Cars Carriers of Regionalism ?

Globalization or Regionalization of the American and Asian Car Industry

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Freyssenet, Michel, Koichi Shimizu, & Giuseppe Volpato (2003).  Globalization or Regionalization of the American and Asian Car Industry. 272.

Over the next few decades, will lean production, and a generalised deregulation of trade have become the norms for the international environment in which firms and political and economic spaces will be operating?

From 1993 to 1996, the GERPISA, a French-based international research network that is devoted to the study of the automobile industry and its labour force, carried out an initial programme entitled, "The Emergence of New Industrial Models”, a project in which it examined whether existing industrial models were effectively starting to converge towards the principles of "lean production" – as had been theorised by MIT’s IMVP team. By focusing on what was happening in the automobile industry, the GERPISA Group’s work was able to demonstrate the great diversity, and divergence, of the trajectories that firms have been following in recent times. There is no " one best way" today - there never has been, and there probably never will be. In fact, the first GERPISA research project made it possible to identify and characterise not one, but three industrial models, all of which have been in operation since the 1970s: the Toyotaist model; the Hondian model; and the Sloanian model (epitomised today by Volkswagen, not GM).

Companies follow different profit strategies – their attempts to increase their profitability cause them to favour certain policy combinations rather than others (for example volume and diversity, quality, innovation and flexibility, the permanent reduction of costs, volumes, etc.). However, in order to be efficient, all of these strategies have to fit in with the environments in which they are to be applied - especially with respect to the modes of income growth and distribution that are being practiced in the spaces under consideration. Moreover, to form an "productive model", made of an “enterprise-government compromise” between the main parties (that are the shareholders, management, unions, workforce, and suppliers), the strategies need to be implemented coherently. This analytical framework is presented in Boyer, R., Freyssenet, M., [/i]The productive models. The conditions of profitability[/i], Palgrave, London, New York, 2002.

From 1997 to 1999, GERPISA realised a second international program, entitled "Automobile Industry between Globalisation and Regionalisation". This project tested the thesis that globalisation is an imperative for corporate profitability; and that it is the inevitable consequence of the deregulation of trade in the aforementioned “new” spaces. This was the logical extension of the first programme, given that "lean production" was as the most suitable model for markets which are variable and diversified, and which are ostensibly moving towards a single global standard. Firms are establishing themselves across the four corners of the planet; new industrialised nations are emerging, as a result of their having opened up to international trade; and more recently, certain auto-makers have been at the heart of some mega-mergers. All of these events have supported the thesis of globalisation, a process which is supposedly galvanised by the fact that companies, in their efforts to benefit from economies of scale, and from improved costs structures, are forever increasing their organisational integration, and are doing this on an ever greater geographical scale. The commercial opening of the new spaces, which some expect to create a homogenisation of demand, is also deemed to contribute to this process.

The present publication aims to carry out a systematic description and analysis of the trajectories of internationalisation that are being followed by the various types of firms which are involved in the automobile industry (manufacturers, suppliers and dealers). A companion book (Carillo, J., Lung, Y., Van Tulder, R. (eds), Cars…Carriers of Regionalism) focusses on the trajectories that are being followed in the different spaces (in the industrialised and emerging countries, in the regional groupings) - and it tests the hypothesis of the spaces’ diversity and divergence. These studies identify and characterise the different processes of periodic re-heterogenisation, and the conditions that are necessary if firms, and spaces, are to be successful. Moreover, within this perspective, they will be particularly keen to analyse the steps that are being taken in order that firms’ and spaces’ trajectories can be adjusted and hybridised - actions which in all probability will require considerable strategic and organisational inventiveness. The book highlights the preference for regionalization rather than globalization that has occurred over the past decade. This book looks specifically at the Asian and American car industry. A companion book looks at the European Car Industry.

Content

1 Introduction: The Diversity of Internationalization Strategies and Trajectories of Automobile Sector Firms, Michel Freyssenet, Koichi Shimizu and Giuseppe Volpato

2 The Internationalization of American and Asian Automobile Firms: A Statistical Comparison with the European companies, Bruno Jetin

Part I Towards the Regionalization of the Global Strategies of US Automakers, Suppliers and Dealers

3 The Twin Internationalization Strategies of US Automakers: GM and Ford, Gérard Bordenave and Yannick Lung

4 The Internationalization of American Automobile Service Companies and Changes in Distribution, Bernard Jullien

Part II The Diversity of Internationalization Trajectories and the Local Hybridization of Japanese and Korean Automobile Firms

5 A Maverick in the Age of Mega-mergers? Toyota’s Global Strategy, Koichi Shimizu

6 Nissan: From a Precocious Export Policy to a Strategic Alliance with Renault, Hiroshi Kumon

7 Honda, an Independent Global Automobile Company, out of the ‘Four Million Units Club’, Koichi Shimokawa

8 The Chance for a Peripheral Market Player: The Internationalization Strategies of the Korean Automobile Industry, Myeong-Kee Chung

9 Conclusion: Regionalization of the American and Asian Automobile Industry, More Than Globalization, Michel Freyssenet, Koichi Shimizu and Giuseppe Volpato

Appendix: The GERPISA International Network 231

Index

Globalization or Regionalization of the American and Asian Car Industry
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